Page 82 of Hypnotized By Love

I was so used to doing loose French knots that it only took a couple of minutes for me to do one on her.

“Well? Did Mom know it was you?” she asked.

“No. You were right.” Our mother hadn’t been able to tell who I really was. She hadn’t been paying that close of attention, but Mason hadn’t been around us in years.

It would be much easier to deceive him.

“So what you’re saying is I’m right and you should always listen to me about everything?”

I looked at her reflection in the mirror because I knew exactly what she was talking about and that the “everything” meant Mason.

“You were right about this, at least.” I finished with her hair and had that weird feeling again that the whole world was just a bit out of place, slightly skewed off its axis. “Let me grab a purse and I’ll get going.”

“No purse,” she said. “And let’s switch phones. Just in case.”

“Good idea.”

“Take my car, too.”

At that I groaned. I couldn’t stand Sierra’s massive SUV. It felt like I was trying to drive a yacht through the streets. I was always so worried I was going to run something over or smack into a parked car and wouldn’t even realize it.

“If somebody drives past, they’ll see my SUV outside his house,” she reminded me.

We walked downstairs together, and when we got to the front door, she gave me a big hug.

“Have the best time!”

The best time. As if,I mumbled to myself as I walked over to her car. I practically needed a rock-climbing license just to hike myself up into the driver’s seat. My sister stood on the front porch, waving to me as I carefully reversed out of the driveway and onto the street.

I still couldn’t believe I was doing this. It seemed nuts.

But this was where my life had led. Doing unhinged things because I wanted to see someone I couldn’t admit I had feelings for.

It took me a bit longer to drive over than normal because I was being so cautious and it was weird driving from this height, but I still got to his house with a couple of minutes to spare.

I sat outside, calling up my courage. I was tempted to turn around and go, but my desire to see him won out, and I climbed down from the SUV. I went directly to the guesthouse, my heart banging in my chest with each step, telling me how stupid this entire thing was.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I knocked on the door. Mason opened it and smiled. “Good to see you. Come on in.”

He stepped aside so that I could enter.

Time to test my sister’s theory.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Mason was on his phone, texting something. “Give me a second,” he said.

I had Sierra’s keys and phone in my hands. What did she do with them without a purse? I put them in my pants pockets, but they felt too heavy, and my elastic waistband was a bit too loose, and that could end up being humiliating.

So I set them down on a table in the front hallway.

He looked up from his phone. “I’m glad you’re here!”

It was weird to have this pleasant/nice vibe happening between us. “Me too. I haven’t been here in a while.”

Oh no, I hoped that was true. I didn’t know if Sierra had been here recently or not. There was a lot about their friendship that I wasn’t aware of, and I suddenly realized just how much that could bite me in the butt.

I promised myself that if it seemed like he suspected I wasn’t my sister, I would make my excuses and leave.

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